I first saw Luckiest Girl Alive on Reese Witherspoon’s Instagram feed, and I knew that she was obviously going to buy the book’s film rights – would she be promoting it otherwise? Tracy Flick knows what she’s doing.
So when I found myself on a 5-hour flight, I knew that was the book I wanted to read, because Reese’s acquisition skills have been pretty solid: Gone Girl and Wild, so far, with Big Little Lies to come (with Nicole Kidman). Full Story

Have you read Emma Donoghue’s Room? I reviewed the book a few years ago – click here to read that post. I met Emma Donoghue. Heard her speak at an event at my alma mater, Western University. She was asked to talk for 7 minutes about creativity. Full Story

A couple of years ago I blogged about my obsession with writer couples: Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, Vendela Vida and Dave Eggers, Nicole Krauss and Jonathan Safran Foer. Click here for a refresher. Jonathan Safran Foer you know, likely from Everything Is Illuminated. Full Story

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer are currently promoting The Man From UNCLE. He’s also been rumoured for a part in the Fifty Shades sequel. So E! asked him if it was true – and this is how he reacted:
OK, so basically they’re trying to do the deal now? Because otherwise it’s a straight up “no”, right?
Cavill is not going to be replacing Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey. Full Story

Jesse Eisenberg was at Comic-Con. Was Jesse Eisenberg at Comic-Con because he’s in a small budget, independent movie shot in a café in Brooklyn from a screenplay written on an old-fashioned typewriter?
Actually, no.
Jesse was at Comic-Con for a movie called Batman vs Superman. Full Story

Have you read Harper Lee’s Go Set A Watchman yet? It came out last week. Duana and I have been angst-ing about it for months and finally on Sunday she was like, after I’d been telling her repeatedly that I’m too scared, are you going to NOT read it though? I have a flight this afternoon and I’m thinking of starting on the plane, with a really dirty horny book as a backup just in case things get intense – both in the story and over the mountains. Judy Blume’s In The Unlikely Event doesn’t exactly help with that kind of anxiety either.

The situation just feels kinda… sketchy, doesn’t it? Click here to read last week’s Bloomberg article about how the book came to be published. Read Full Intro

Jamie Dornan was in Prague today promoting Anthropoid. He looks GOOD. I quite like this shot of him sticking his tongue out. On the subject of tongues…
Grey, the book.
You read it? Click here if you missed Maria’s review.
I’ve stopped at 20%. Full Story

Judy Blume is currently in Toronto promoting her new book In The Unlikely Event. Duana wrote about it a few weeks ago – click here and click here for a refresher. This is exciting. Actually, it’s the MOST exciting. And I know many of you understand. I know many of you feel the same way: that she saved us, didn’t she? I was an awkward Chinese kid living through my parents’ divorce and finding new reasons to hate myself every day, like many of you when you were growing up, and Judy’s books were always there, not necessarily to explain or to fix it, but to tell you that you should keep trying to figure it out, that she trusted that you would figure it out. Read Full Intro

Yesterday, Lainey wrote about the #AskELJames hashtag hijacking (click here for a refresher) and, having read the book, I can understand where (and who) those tweets are coming from. People like me who spent $11.99 on Grey.
I’ll start with the bad and get to the worse (things won’t get better): Grey is not the worst book I’ve ever read. Full Story

Have you been following this on Twitter? If not, do a search for #AskELJames. E.L. James, the author of Fifty Shades Of Grey, decided to participate in a Twitter chat today, I guess to promote the new book, Grey, and, well…
That’s kind of Twitter is for, isn’t it?
Here’s a sample:
Will you be rewriting the book from Stephenie Meyer's point of view next time? #AskELJamesFull Story

Fan Bingbing at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Did you hear about the social media fight she got into with Wang Sicong this week? Wang Sicong is the 27 year old son of the richest man in China. He recently posted a photo of his dog wearing two Apple watches, one around each leg. Each watch is valued at $10,000. Full Story

Does everyone like Aziz Ansari as much as I do?
What I like about him is that he’s a modern comic. Of course Louis C.K. and Seinfeld and Chris Rock are considered comedy gods but they are also from a generation that became famous before the internet existed. Sometimes the “you crazy kids get off my lawn” sensibility of the sacred cows gets a little tired. Full Story

Spoilers everywhere – come back if you haven’t finished.
You know, usually I am not afraid of endings. Usually I am the one who says things like “I’d rather something end well, early, than go on too long”. I am unsentimental, not because I’m heartless, but because usually, there are lots of things to love. Full Story